Risky Magic
by TeraWatt
Summary: A tale of a wizard, the avatar of a semi-sentient castle and the International Unspeakables. A prequel to Unspeakable Potter and the Smallville Situation. Rated T for rampant paranoia. FYI: I don't own Harry Potter or any other real thing I may or may not reference in this fanfic. Their beach, my sandcastle.
1. Chapter 1

Risky Magic

By TeraWatt

Chapter 01

Harry had come across the room of requirements in his third year. He had been wandering aimlessly for about an hour having been released from the hospital wing after the Quidditch match. One might wonder why he was alone when he was rarely seen away from Ron and Hermione. As it happened, it was a Hogsmead weekend, and even if it wasn't, Harry wanted to be left alone.

He had never felt so helpless. Those dementors seemed to have taken a particular liking to him and he had no way to defend himself. Come to think of it, he had known about magic for three years and each year he had found himself in terrifyingly dangerous situations multiple times each year. He knew for a fact that the murdering psychopath that gave him his scar was quite alive, even if he currently lacked a body. He could come back to his powers at anytime for all Harry knew. And the only defensive magic he knew was a dis-arming charm.

'Enough is enough' Harry thought. 'I find myself in several extremely dangerous situations each year. I NEED to learn how to defend myself. I NEED someone to teach me. I – did that door just appear out of thin air?'

Harry was admittedly curious. Whilst he had known doors to sometimes masquerade as walls or vise-versa, he had never seen one just appear before. He walked inside and saw a sitting room with some couches and a coffee table.

A man appeared in the room and took a seat on a couch.

"Welcome to the room of requirement Apprentice. Take a seat."

Once Harry recovered from the shock of seeing a man appear out of thin air, he took the proffered seat.

"May I ask your name, Apprentice?" the man asked.

"I'm Harry Potter, sir. May I ask yours?" Harry replied.

The man smiled. "I am a physical representation of Godric Gryffindor as Hogwarts knew him."

"What is the Room of Requirements? And why do you call me apprentice?" Harry asked.

"This room is known as the Come-and-Go room or the Room of Requirements as this is the most magically potent place in the castle. And considering Hogwarts sits on the most magically potent area of the British Isles, this is by far the most useful place in the castle."

"Useful?"

"Yes. The castle directs those who truly need the room to it as the room is always equipped for the person's needs, within the laws of magic of course. And I called you apprentice because the Sorting Hat deemed you so. You possess the qualities that each of the Founders valued."

The room echoed for a moment with the Sorting Hat's voice _"Difficult. Very difficult. Plenty of courage, I see. Not a bad mind either. There's talent, oh my goodness, yes - and a nice thirst to prove yourself, now that's interesting. . . .So where shall I put you?"_

Godric continued "In times past you would have been tutored personally by the Headmaster and your personal talents would have been fostered, but over time the Board of Governors pushed most of their duties onto the Headmaster who now doesn't have time to fulfil his own duties. As it stands now, the Board of Governors now sit around bickering over the school budget trying to stuff their pockets as full as possible leaving the school to flounder. We once had seven Masters to teach EACH core subject, the Headmaster would tutor five or six Apprentices each year, the library had its own floor of the castle, and there were over twenty elective classes. This was once the world's premier magic academy. People would come from Asia and Africa for a chance to attend. Rowena would cry at the state of the school as it stands today. The Equinoxes and Solstices pass with not one ritual. There are maybe fourteen animagi in Britain. Blood-magic is almost a lost art and at this moment there are over one hundred and twenty death wraiths laying siege to the grounds. There is so much untapped magic built up in the castle that the staircases are in a constant state of malfunction. This room was not designed by the founders. It appeared by itself as a necessary outlet; to bleed off the magic."

The Godric avatar paused for a moment before continuing. "The magic build-up is getting dangerous."

"Dangerous? What do you mean?"

"When the school was operating correctly, the magic wasn't overloading the school. Each magic capable child would have a life expectancy of one hundred years, give or take. Now with all these children being exposed to dangerous levels of magic, life expectancy has doubled but now, each wizard and witch will find it difficult to conceive a child and each child they do have is in danger of having no magic. Each generation that is exposed after that is in even more danger. The magic build up is damaging. The staff and students used to perform rituals to claim some of the magic as it were and build up their core and abilities, thereby draining excess magic. Now the school is trying to bleed it off by itself. The fireplaces self-lighting, the moving staircases, the great hall candles and ceiling, the doors and walls moving or disappearing. The school has even gained a sentience it didn't have before but it isn't enough."

"What can be done?" Harry asked wide eyed. "Can I help?"

Godric grinned.

"Harry, the room opened for you. You had a Need that Hogwarts is very eager to help you with. You needed to learn how to defend yourself. You needed someone to teach you. Hogwarts is beyond willing. This will help immensely as it will drain a lot of the excess magic. And once we're done, you will know how to help further. This is going to be a lot of fun." Godric said with an ever widening smile. "Are you interested?"

Harry grinned as well. "Yes I am."


	2. Chapter 2

Risky Magic

By TeraWatt

"_Are you interested?"_

_Harry grinned as well. "Yes I am."_

Chapter 02

"Excellent." said Godric.

A sheet of parchment appeared on the coffee table. Godric had Harry place his hand on the sheet and speak his name.

"Harry James Potter"

Removing his hand, Harry saw words appear on the parchment as though an invisible hand was writing on it.

HARRY JAMES POTTER - APPRENTICE

31/07/1980 - Age: 13

Natural Talents

Metamorphmagus Partially Unlocked

Shifter Locked

Elemental Locked

Beast Speaker Locked

Parselmouth Partially Unlocked

Mind Mage Locked

Current Core Size 2 (Pre-Inheritance)

Natural Potential Core Size 7

Godric read over Harry's shoulder. "Okay. I can definitely work with this." He grinned.

"What do these mean? Metamorphmagus, Shifter, Elemental, Beast Speaker, Mind Mage? And two are partially unlocked."

"Metamorphmagi can change their physical appearance at will. Yours is partially unlocked. Do you remember doing accidental magic involving your hair maybe?"

"I had a bad haircut and it all grew back overnight."

"There you go. Shifters are an advanced type of multi-animagus which can transform into any mundane or magical creature they have seen. They can also communicate with other animals like them while shifted. So if you are shifted as a wolf you can speak to wolves, werewolves and other canines. As a panther you can communicate with other felines. Elementals can control the elements as the word suggests. Fire, Earth, Water and Air. Usually an Elemental would have one focus element and excel in that element whilst having rudimentary control over the others. You seem to be powerful in all of them as the page doesn't specify otherwise, or rather you will be powerful when we unlock it."

"What's a Beast Speaker then?"

"A Beast Speaker has the ability to communicate with animals. Non-Magical animals aren't very intelligent and can be commanded by a beast speaker while Magical creatures can impart great insight and wisdom. A Beast Speaker with a strong will can command some magical creatures whilst some must be bribed or coerced into following instructions. They don't speak out loud in a different language, it's all mental, like telepathy."

"I think I understand. What is a Mind Mage?"

"A Mind Mage is someone with the proficiency to perform Occlumency and Legilemency. A Legilemens can look into a person's mind and memories, while Occlumency is defending and organising one's mind."

"And what does it mean that my being a Parselmouth is only partially unlocked?"

"You can only speak and understand Parseltongue. Once unlocked, you can use Parselmagic or command Magical Snakes or Dragons."

"So does the average wizard have these abilities?"

"If they do, they can only access the ones which are naturally unlocked. Almost no-one uses rituals to unlock these skills unless they pay an exorbitant fee for the ritual to be done by the Goblins at Gringotts. Even then, the Goblins could only unlock one skill and the rest would be permanently locked. Goblin Magic and Wizard Magic are rather incompatible that way."

"I see. Well how do we unlock these abilities?"

"Rituals and Training. It will take time and effort."

"How are we going to do this? People will notice if I disappear for weeks to train."

"Harry, this is the Room of Requirements. Are you saying you _require_ time to train?" Godric asked with a grin.

Harry's eyes widened in dawning understanding. "Is that possible?"

"It's certainly less complicated than using a time turner; less dangerous too. Now, you happen to know an elf who would be thrilled to help us with what we are doing. He is currently working in the kitchens and he will come if you call him."

Harry called Dobby to them and the elf was indeed ecstatic to help Mr Hogwarts and Master Harry Potter Sir by bringing food for Harry during his training.

"So how are we going to do this? Are you going to teach me?"

"Not only me. You see Harry, Hogwarts remembers everything that has happened within her wards. She knows every word from every book in the library, every newspaper that crossed the wards, every thesis. She knows every word that was said in every class, the mannerisms and teaching methods of every teacher that has ever taught here. Beyond this, as the Castle became more and more overloaded with magic, the Castle could learn the memories and thoughts of everyone inside her. You will be training and learning for a heck of a long time from your perspective. While we're here, you will be given the original Hogwarts experience as it were. Every elective, core subject and your specialisation training will be included."

"Wouldn't that take years normally? Will I be coming out of the room a forty-year-old?"

"No. Firstly, we will be opening your mind. Mentally, you can observe your mind as a landscape, with a library for your knowledge and memories or however you want to organise it. I will be coming into your mindscape with you to help you build it. And since I am a projection from Hogwarts who has all this knowledge, I can pass it onto you directly in your mind." Godric explained. "The time consuming part is initially building your mindscape and claiming the memories and skills as your own. We will be here a few days at most whilst initially setting up your mindscape."

"When do we start?"

Godric grinned "No time like the present."


	3. Chapter 3

Risky Magic

By TeraWatt

"_When do we start?"_

_Godric grinned "No time like the present."_

Chapter 03

Godric instructed Harry to sit on a chair that had just popped into existence in the middle of the room. "This chair has been charmed to relax the user so as to ease the process of meditating. Now, close your eyes and imagine the library. The shelves are full of books. Each book is a memory. Your knowledge is in the books as well. Can you see it in your mind's eye?"

"Yes" And he could. His early memories were at the back of the library on dusty shelves. His favourite memories were in beautiful leather bound tomes embossed with gold leaf. In a different section from the Dursley memories were his Hogwarts memories. His most recent memories were at the fore of the library. As Harry stood in his library mindscape, there was a knock on the door. He let Godric in and Harry noticed some armchairs. Harry and Godric sat down and got to work.

Godric had Harry look at all his memories from most recent to oldest. He also had Harry separate knowledge-books from his memory-books. Before Harry knew it he was reviewing his earliest memories. These memories were sparse and disjointed. Small scenes of loving voices, smiling faces and a general feeling of love. Half remembered names and faces: Mummy, Daddy, Paafoo, Wormy, Mooie, Unca Frak, An Ally, Nev.

Much clearer were memories of Halloween Nineteen-Eighty-One. The dementors were responsible for that Harry supposed.

Next Godric had Harry review the Knowledge-Books and file them in a new section of the library.

Godric walked over to the Knowledge section and pulled out a book. Harry recognised it as his fight with the Basalisk.

"I agree that this is in the right section but I must ask. Why do you think that this belongs in this section?"

"Well, that was the first time that I used a sword. I figured that experience using one belonged here in the Knowledge section."

"Ok then, why then is your fight with Quirrell not here then. You used impressive magic to subdue him."

"I did? But Professor Dumbledore said that it was protection from my mother's sacrifice that meant he couldn't touch me."

"As far as Albus Dumbledore knows that is what happened. However he is quite wrong. You see, he has decided that your mother used an ancient charm to save you when you were a baby. But your mother wouldn't have had time to set up the charm that he is thinking of, and it wouldn't have worked anyway. The charm he is thinking of would take upon herself all of the child's ailments so as to save the child from diseases or injuries that would grievously hurt or killed a child but that an adult could handle better. Your mother had less than a minute to work with from the time Riddle entered your house and killed her. You saved yourself."

"If I saved myself, then why did Quirrell react badly to my touch? And _how_ did I save myself?"

"I'll answer how you saved yourself first. What happened with Quirrell ties into what happened to Riddle. From the fact that dementors can pull out this memory, we can assume that baby-you recognised that something bad was happening. When you recognised something bad had happened to your parents, your accidental magic kicked in. Now, at the same time as you were experiencing this accidental magic, Riddle tried to use the killing curse on you. At this point, you accidentally used a dangerous technique that you were unprepared to use. You drew the magic into your body and once you had taken the magic of the spell, you kept pulling. The spell had forged a connection between you and Riddle. By continuing to _pull_ after the spell's magic was gone, you were pulling into yourself all of Riddle's magic. After so many dark rituals and enhancements, Riddle's body was little more than magic. So Riddle's body was destroyed as you took that same magic. The technique you used was a variation of the ritual to expand your magical core. The Killing-curse usually leaves the victim unmarked. You received the scar from so much magic passing into your body. Then there would have been some magical explosion as the magic exited your body. I imagine the house would have been in ruins, when your godfather found you."

"I'll ask about my godfather later, what happened with Quirrell then?"

"Your magic is connected with Riddle's soul through your scar. When he is near your scar seeks to finish taking his magic into you. You had pains in your scar whenever he was near or using more magic than usual in your first year. When you were in great danger from Quirrell, your magic recognised that Riddle was near and it tried to deal with him the way it dealt with him last time. There was no explosion this time but you were unconscious for three days due to the magical overload."

"That makes sense. So with the proper preparations, if I do that again, I could absorb all his magic when he tries to curse me?"

"That's right. When this school first started, combat magic was never used directly on the opponent, they would alter the landscape or conjure golems. They could latch onto a direct spell and try to drain the person cursing them. This would start a _tug-of-war_ that the person with the most willpower would win. The loser of this _tug-of-war_ could be left weakened or even magicless. Such a sudden loss of magic for a witch or wizard can be fatal. That is why most of the ancient wizards and witches were so powerful."

"I take it then that this is one of the rituals I will be doing then?"

"One of the first in fact. The first ritual will pause your core's growth as it is dangerous to do rituals on a core that hasn't fully matured. Once your core is stable, the second ritual will allow you to absorb ambient magic or magic directed at you. The third ritual will allow your core to integrate this excess magic and expand your core. The fourth ritual will perfect your eyesight and only needs to be done the once. The "Good Health Ritual" will be performed after that and will cause any excess magic you have to gradually improve your body and health and keep both at an optimal level. Next is a ritual that was used very often with students and apprentices; The "Expand Mind Ritual" allows one to learn, read, comprehend faster and allows far greater retention, which, given what we are trying to achieve, will be very useful. We will then unlock one ability. I think that your Mind Mage ability will be best to start with. Then the "Good Fortune Ritual" which can only be performed on the Solstice, and finally, the ritual to un-pause your core's growth."

"Ok then, nine rituals in one day; I suppose the Room will help with that. Will I do all of those every equinox and solstice?"

"No. The Good Fortune Ritual can only be performed on the Solstices as it has a reverse effect on the Equinoxes. The Eyesight Ritual only needs doing once and we will not need to do the Ritual to Unlock Abilities once they are all unlocked. Also, I recommend we only perform the Expand Mind Ritual until you are fully trained up. After the first set of rituals, everything will become easy as writing your own name. This year's Fall Equinox has already passed so we will do the first set of rituals on the Winter Solstice which is December 21 this year."

Godric stood up from the armchair and both of them left Harry's Mindscape Library by the door.

Harry woke up with a killer headache to Dobby sponging his sweaty forehead. Harry could have kissed Dobby when the wonderful elf silently handed Harry a headache potion which, by the handwriting on the label, seemed to have been pilfered from Snape's storeroom.

Godric smiled at Harry.

"Without your Mindmage ability unlocked, organising a Mindscape can hurt like hell."

"No kidding."

Harry took a proffered glass of water from Dobby and sipped on it thoughtfully.

"Before, when we were talking about the night Voldemort attacked my parents, you mentioned that my godfather took me from the house. I thought that Hagrid took me."

"The castle has the ability to see unprotected thoughts of the people on the grounds and in the castle. Yet another way it has been trying to drain excess magic. Hagrid's memories of that night were of arriving at your house and seeing the roof blown away on the upstairs nursery. He saw your godfather in tears with you in his arms, stumbling out where the front door used to be. You were unconscious. Hagrid had orders to take any survivors back to the castle. Your godfather only gave you to Hagrid after Hagrid suggested that you might need medical attention. He gave you to Hagrid, swearing he would be back to take you home in a couple of days. He also lent Hagrid his own flying motorcycle to get you there safely and quickly as it's dangerous to apparate with a baby."

"Well evidently he never came back to get me. Was he killed by Voldemort's men?"

"Oh no. He was arrested and shipped to Azkaban by sundown the next day."

"WHAT? Arrested? What for?"

"For allegedly selling your family and you to Azkaban and the murder of twelve muggles and a wizard. However it is interesting to note that there was no mention of a trial. Every other Death Eater who was caught was given a trial but not him. If he had one it would have been huge news. Front page stuff. Can you imagine the hype? The man who sold his godson, the boy who lived, to Voldemort."

"Wait. Twelve muggles and a wizard? Sirius Black is my godfather? And they think he's after me?"

"Ironically, he cannot possibly be after you. In wizarding tradition, a godparent is incapable of doing anything to their godchild. They swear an unbreakable vow to that effect. Hogwarts does not know about whether or not Black is guilty of the murder allegations, but he cannot be guilty of selling your family to Voldemort."

"Blimey. But if he's not after me, why did he try to break into Gryffindor Tower? Hogwarts can read thoughts you said? What was he thinking?"

A man's voice sounded from the ceiling. It echoed slightly and sounded frantic:

"_Must . . get inside! HARRY! SAVE HARRY! He's at Hogwarts! The traitor, the RAT's at Hogwarts! Harry's in danger! LET ME THROUGH! PLEASE! _Please_! I'm _begging_ you! LET! ME! THROUGH!"_

"He's trying to _save_ me? Is there a danger at Hogwarts? Is the traitor here?"

"Maybe. He is referring to a traitor, meaning that at one point this person was on our side. Your father had three very close friends at school. They were Remus Lupin, Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew. When Remus was eight years old, he was attacked by a werewolf and was bitten. There is no easy cure. For most, it is downright impossible. When James, Sirius and Peter stumbled onto the secret, they decided to become animagi so they could join him on the full moon and make the experience a little easier. Your father transformed into a stag, Sirius transformed into a dog and Peter into a rat. It is possible that Pettigrew is who he is referring to, however, Pettigrew is the wizard Black allegedly murdered twelve years ago. Apparently, all they could find of Peter was his finger."

Harry turned white.

"If a person loses a limb and turns into their animagus form, would that limb still be missing on their animagus form?"

"Yes, why do you ask?"

"Ron's rat, Scabbers, is missing a toe on his right front paw."


End file.
